for civil rights. dr.king is being honored for using his words to bring change. heather holmes was in the audience and tells us there was something different this year, heather. >> reporter: julie just as the program says here, tonight's event promoted no guns in light of the killings at sandy hook elementary, and the sold out crowd embraced that message. >> this battle will never be won until we all get free. >> reporter: before she took to the stage in front of 1,000 people, 20-year-old jade cho shared privately with us her pointian poem. >> but it's raise every voice and speak a new world into being. >> reporter: cho was one of two dozen young performers who honored king's legacy through music and the spoken word. >> tomorrow nobody will care. >> reporter: tonight's theme mainly focused on gun violence. >> we're asking people to really speak about that on a day where we celebrate someone who so much believed in nonviolence. a lot of young people are growing up in violent circumstances. >> reporter: two # 2-year-old donte clark says he has seen the impact of gun violence in h